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Media outlets needed drool cups to handle the runoff when the Chris Brown-Rihanna domestic fiasco erupted on the eve of the Grammy Awards. Countless entertainment and news outlets thundered with self-righteous indignation that heartthrob Brown would want to bruise thr golden goddess Rihanna, much less pummel the darling damsel into near submission.
The fact of the matter remains, however, that there are pockets of the black female community who continue to excuse (or worse, defend) Brown’s illogical use of force to subdue or “punish” Rihanna for whatever transgressions he believed she committed against him. Here are the reasons some black women believe Brown was not in the wrong:
- Some black women believe Rihanna was most likely the instigator in the violent dispute. Therefore, they irrationally deduce that Rihanna was deserving of her painful fate. They believe she either struck him first or committed an act so egregious (such as the widely-circulated rumor that Rihanna gave Brown a sexually transmitted disease) that Brown had no other recourse but to strike out with brute force.
- Brown’s stepdad was abusive towards him and his mother when he was coming up in Virginia. Therefore, some women believe Brown was a lifelong victim who reflexively and instinctively acted as he had been reared to do in disputes with women.
- Many women believe that Rihanna is basically a good girl who was wowed by a bad boy. Some women believe Rihanna learned of Brown’s mental sickness yet justified and/or excused his behavior until it exploded into an international incident.
- Color wars: Some dark-skinned women, brewing with unfortunate self-loathing or low self- esteem, hate Rihanna and any other light-skinned beauty, particularly those who attain some semblance of success. This is closely associated with the traditional “crabs in a barrel” mentality that has crippled and retarded our progress for decades, if not centuries.
- So few black men attain real crossover, transcendent success that we are hesitant to tear them down or rightfully rebuke their inexcusable behavior.
Domestic violence, like other social ills, continues to rage silently in our community, causing incalculable damage to the fabric of our community. It is time that we took a public stance to speak out and fight against domestic violence against woman. Many women’s emotional stability, and lives, depend on it. –terry shropshire
